Discussion: Polaris, AMD's 4th Gen GCN Architecture

[Embra]

Prices will depend on supply as well.

 

[simon12]

In the past all new cards are more expensive on pre-orders and early buyers by how much and for how long depends on supply vs demand. Since this one looks like the best price performance increase almost ever unless AMD xan make alot of them I expect them to stay over priced for a while. Also OEMs wanting to build VR ready stuff will likely buy up alot of them.

 

[renz496]

@teh penguin

1) freesync is cheaper but if you're buying one you really need to do your search first. Because unlike how nvidia handle gsync with partners amd have no control over what monitor maker will do with their adaptive sync monitors. For example they just add the spec in but they did not test how well it works with games. That's why we are hearing freesync have issues like ghosting despite the panel is the same panel use on gsync monitors. And to date freesync still not capable of copying all gsync feature. For example gsync will now work even on windowed game where as no such thing for freesync

2) lol the most funny about competition is they end up killing/swallow each other. And when that happen there ia no new player to replace them. Worst most of the important IP and patent for GPU end up owned by the most big player making it impossible for new startup to enter the market.

 

[TehPenguin]

Hmm. Playing in window-mode is not an issue. I never do that. The only difference I noticed is that the monitor I have on my radar has a freesync range of 40-60, which is pretty small compared to any gsync of that size.
The upside, though, is that it costs only about €750 compared to €1200 for a gysnc the same size. Not to mention there are not flat 3440x1440 gsync monitors and I can't handle the curve when photo-editing.

So yeah... I've got reasons to pray for AMD 😀

Regarding competition: I don't think they'd end up swallowing each other. It would mean they'd have to offer better products at a better price to stay competitive.

 

[renz496]

That is just one of feature of gsync. Gsync also have ULMB. when the frame rates already in the upper 100s gsync become less important because with such high frame rates animation will be really smooth. For gsync user they can disable gsync and enable ULMB instead. and one of the supposed advantage of gsync most problem should be addressable by driver updates. Some freesync monitors need to be send back to manufacturer for firmware updates. They said it should be easier if monitor maker give the ability to upgrade the monitor firmware to user but it seems to me most monitor maker did not want that to happen.

For the competition part offering that better price is the problem. Just look at nvidia and amd right now. If they engage in price war how long both company can sustain that? In 2010 it is AMD that raise the white flag first. This probably why amd decided not to go head to head with this time on the high end. If they go head to head in any segment most of the sales will still go to nvidia even if amd have very competitive pricing.

 

[Math Geek]

wccf posted some more new info on the 480 and some new benchmarks. http://wccftech.com/amd-rx-480-faster-than-nano-980/

shows it faster than a nano and a 980 pretty consistent with the past leaked benchmarks.

goes on to note that the source claims better real world gaming performance than 3d mark implies!!

 

[-Fran-]

If that is true, then good news. For the relative price, seems to be in the perfect spot.

I wonder how the 8GB version scales up with resolution. I would imagine the 4GB version will be enough for what the GPU can crunch.

Cheers!

 

[Math Geek]

3d mark score is almost the same for both versions, but we know higher resolutions like more vram. i'd suspect 1080p will be almost the same for both cards. but 1440p may see a jump in performance for the 8 gb one.

 

[TehPenguin]

Huh. Performance in game better than 3d mark score? Meaning even closer to titan x than it already is for $200? That's impressive.

 

[Math Geek]

sure sounds that way. i'd not expect too much closer to a titan x but a solid 10% or so better than a 980 in game seems reachable if all this is right. sure is getting exciting. can't wait to see how it all ends up when i do the new builds later this year. 2-3 months from now could look wildly different than it does now for prices and what you get for that money.

now if only intel would drop the price of the $1700 new cpu of theirs......

 

[jimmysmitty]

sure sounds that way. i'd not expect too much closer to a titan x but a solid 10% or so better than a 980 in game seems reachable if all this is right. sure is getting exciting. can't wait to see how it all ends up when i do the new builds later this year. 2-3 months from now could look wildly different than it does now for prices and what you get for that money.

now if only intel would drop the price of the $1700 new cpu of theirs......

If AMD gives them stiff enough competition they might. Otherwise why would they?

 

[Math Geek]

i know, just wishful thinking on my part

 

[simon12]

sure sounds that way. i'd not expect too much closer to a titan x but a solid 10% or so better than a 980 in game seems reachable if all this is right. sure is getting exciting. can't wait to see how it all ends up when i do the new builds later this year. 2-3 months from now could look wildly different than it does now for prices and what you get for that money.

now if only intel would drop the price of the $1700 new cpu of theirs......

Maybe zen will be 90% as good for $200

 

[Math Geek]

and i'll take that without even thinking twice. 90% for less than half the cost is a no brainer 😉

 

[renz496]

Score are all over the place right now. in one of AMD very own benchmark (leaked AMD slides) show that RX480 score around 6.3 for VR which is a bit below the score for 970. Then there are leaks talking about 480 about as fast as nano. I think we better tone down the hype. Else this might repeat "R9 285".

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Score are all over the place right now. in one of AMD very own benchmark (leaked AMD slides) show that RX480 score around 6.3 for VR which is a bit below the score for 970. Then there are leaks talking about 480 about as fast as nano. I think we better tone down the hype. Else this might repeat "R9 285".

But I like riding the hype train....

You're on fire today with the images.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Just noticed that image was not site friendly. Whoops my bad.

 

[Math Geek]

i found it very amusing myself. not sure what else we are supposed to do in a rumor thread but i'll try to pretend the cards will fail miserably so the haters can sleep better 😀

 

[Martell1977]

Over-hyping things tends to do a lot of damage to AMD and for some reason Intel and nVidia don't suffer from it. Remember everyone saying that bulldozer was an "Intel killer", or more recently that Fury X was a "980ti killer"? When reality struck, AMD got a lot of really bad press because people were so disappointed because they bought into the hype and there was no way for AMD to deliver.

The hype can be fun, but have to keep it in check. Otherwise, the 480, which by all indications will be a beast at it's MSRP, will suffer the same fate. It's only 2 more weeks and the most reliable source, AMD themselves, was showing around 970/390 performance. I'll stick with that until we have independent benchmarks to show what it can really do.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Over-hyping things tends to do a lot of damage to AMD and for some reason Intel and nVidia don't suffer from it. Remember everyone saying that bulldozer was an "Intel killer", or more recently that Fury X was a "980ti killer"? When reality struck, AMD got a lot of really bad press because people were so disappointed because they bought into the hype and there was no way for AMD to deliver.

The hype can be fun, but have to keep it in check. Otherwise, the 480, which by all indications will be a beast at it's MSRP, will suffer the same fate. It's only 2 more weeks and the most reliable source, AMD themselves, was showing around 970/390 performance. I'll stick with that until we have independent benchmarks to show what it can really do.

Blame the Fanbois and/or the paid shills as they are the ones who do all the hyping.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Over-hyping things tends to do a lot of damage to AMD and for some reason Intel and nVidia don't suffer from it. Remember everyone saying that bulldozer was an "Intel killer", or more recently that Fury X was a "980ti killer"? When reality struck, AMD got a lot of really bad press because people were so disappointed because they bought into the hype and there was no way for AMD to deliver.

The hype can be fun, but have to keep it in check. Otherwise, the 480, which by all indications will be a beast at it's MSRP, will suffer the same fate. It's only 2 more weeks and the most reliable source, AMD themselves, was showing around 970/390 performance. I'll stick with that until we have independent benchmarks to show what it can really do.

I think the problem lies in the die hard fanboys more with AMD than Intel/nVidia.

It is something I have noticed. Sometimes they are the same people who prefer Linux over Microsoft and so on.

The funny thing is we used to have some very hard core AMD fanboys here on THF and the hype behind Phenom from them was insane. They disappeared for a while after it launched then cane back to sing the praises of the Phenom II and then hype up BD.

That is why I always wait for reviews before making final judgements. I will never assume AMD or Intel or nVidia will deliver some insane product but will hope they can.

 

[renz496]

285 was decent for what it was. But overhype end making 285 as a meh card to some. When they saw Firepro version of tonga was rated at 150w they said "maxwell killer" (in power efficiency) is finally here. I don't know if some of this people are new to gpu world but looking on lots of their comments it seems they have been following gpu news for years. Did they forgot that professional gpu usually end up with much lower power consumption because of lower clock (for stability and precision reason)? Even passive cooled GK110 exist and the power was rated at 225w instead of 250w like GTX780Ti.

Btw amd mention they will cover the price range up to $300. RX480 4GB is $200. I heard that some board partner will be offering "beast mode" of polaris 10. Could they be the one rumored as fast as 980ti for $300?

 

[Math Geek]

last i have read suggests that there should be plenty of oc headroom for these cards. possible there can be mega clocked cards with a large oc. how much of course we won't know until we see it. 20-25% was not unheard of for maxwell. has anything had better oc potential in the gpu world? not something i have paid much attention to in the past.

 

[-Fran-]

It really depend on the leaks and the dates around them. Was it pre-1080 launch or post? Was it with the clocks posted or not?

I mean, I don't argue against the "hype train might derail" logic, but to the leaks merit (even if I don't trust WTFBBQTECH) they are *plausible* with what AMD has displayed. The cards in the last leak show 1.2Ghz and before that the clocks were unknown, right? Maybe those are OC'ed versions of the 480 and the stock clocks will be 1Ghz to keep the promised TDP, etc.

Please, correct me on anything, because my memory sucks.

Cheers!

 

[renz496]

For me AMD have two path. Clock their card as high as possible to close the gap between their card and nvidia. Second be conservative on the clock and play the overclocking dream stuff. Which is the better route for them?

Ultimately i want to know how amd going to compete with Pascal on VR front. Nvidia already have new tech that will reduce VR load by half. Does RX480 have somethibg similar vs pascal?